Conventional carpet tile has historically been a product that sought to mimic the appearance of broadloom carpet, which is continuous, and to hide or at least de-emphasize the fact that the product was modular. The imperative of a broadloom-like, continuous appearance long dictated that carpet tile styles be uniform in color and pattern within tiles and from one tile to another. For these reasons, carpet tiles in a carpet tile installation were conventionally of the same size and shape from one tile to another.
However, textile face modular flooring designers have recently begun to design flooring and flooring installations that do not seek to mask, but rather emphasize, the modularity of the flooring. Such carpet tiles are often installed “quarter-turned” with each tile position rotated 90° relative to each adjacent tile.
Traditionally, modules were often glued to the floor by first applying a layer of adhesive to the underlying flooring surface and then positioning the tiles on top of the adhesive. With this method, adhesive typically contacts the entire surface area of the underside of the flooring modules, which increases material costs and often leads to difficultly in re-positioning the tiles if they are positioned incorrectly. This is a particular problem during installation of patterned modules that must be matched at the seams. Moreover, when the modules are eventually removed, glue remains on the flooring surface and that glue sometimes retains portions of the removed tiles. The glue (and any flooring materials held by the glue) must be removed from the floor to create a smooth surface before installing new tiles. This adds both cost and time to the installation process.
As described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,464,510 (entitled “System and Method for Floor Covering Installation,” filed Dec. 21, 2004), which is incorporated herein in its entirety by this reference, connectors for joining adjacent modular floor covering units recently have been developed. Such connectors allow for the assembly of carpet tiles on an underlying floor surface without the need to attach them to the floor surface.